Post-practice quotes

“We look at it, it could very easily be 3-1, us, if we find a way to get one in overtime, hang onto the lead, at least 2-2. So, yeah, it’s a tough position, but we’ve got to remain focused and believe in what we’re capable of in here and believe in each other, and continue with that mindset going forward. They did it to us a couple of years ago and it’s happening more frequently.”

“Obviously it’s a tough position to be in, but it’s funny how things change. You look at that Chicago-Vancouver series. Not to draw from it, but a little bit. They’re down 3-0 and now all of a sudden it’s 3-2 and they get to go back to Chicago, which is a tough building. So we go down and play a great road game and find a way to steal a win and all of a sudden they’ve got to come into our building and beat us. So, not to look too far ahead, but we’ve just got to do that, and if we do then we’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position.”

On the closeness of the series:

“They’ve poured it on on us in some stretches and we’ve poured it on on them in some stretches. Unfortunately, they get a bounce the other night. We had a great period, they had a great period. I mean, it’s been about as close as you can get. We’ve got to find a way to break through. We’ve got to find a way to make a big play at a big time and that’s what’s going to, I think, make a difference.”

On the third-period leads:

“It’s not frustrating, no. A hockey game’s 60 minutes. We score with a minute left in the game we win. They score and it goes overtime. That’s just the way hockey is. It’s a 60-minute game. So anything can happen. I don’t think we can be frustrated. We’ve just got to look ahead and make sure we play with the confidence we’re capable of playing with for 60 minutes rather than 40, and backing off.”

Chris Drury:

On 3-1 being more possible today:

“Yeah, there’s certainly a lot of examples as close as last year, as close as last night with a team (Chicago) down 3-0, now making it 3-2. I think it’s changed a bit since I started just because the gap has narrowed between an eighth-place team and a first-place team.”

“It’s been very close. Obviously, there’s been overtime games, every game has gone down to the wire. Dubi’s goal. We feel good about how we’ve played and we should feel good about it. Obviously we’d like to be in the lead in the series, but there’s certainly no reason why we shouldn’t feel good and go in there ready for a good battle.”

Henrik Lundqvist:

“I think we need everybody to play their best to have success and maybe when there’s no room for us to turn the other way … you know, there’s no where else for us to go other than winning right now. Hopefully we’ll challenge ourselves to just play our best.

“That’s what we need. The whole year we’ve been pretty good when we were in tough spots, challenged ourselves or been challenged. We’ve stepped up to the plate. So we still have some confidence here. We believe in each other, we believe we can do it. We’re facing a good team and we’re down 3-1 so it looks pretty tough. But we believe we can do it.”

On Capitals trying to jump on the Rangers in the early going:

“Oh we’re going to try to do the same thing. We want to make sure they know we’re there to compete and I think it’s important that we focus on our game. We know what we have to do. Me personally, I know what I have to do, and just focus on my job and not think too much about ‘What if’ or consequences, or what’s going to happen if we win or lose. We just have to focus on what we have to do and really break it down to the first 10 minutes, then for the next 10 minutes and then after that the next 10 minutes.”

“It’s been tight games, no question, and with some luck it could have been a different story. But it is what it is. We’re down 3-1 and we just habe to accept it and I think we all believe in each other and that we can do it. That’s where it starts.”

On getting over Game 4 with a day off the ice Thursday.

“Not so much get over what happened, but physically it was a tough game. I was exhausted. So yesterday I was still tired. Today was a good practice day. So, yeah, I like the extra day. Tomorrow there won’t be any excuses for not being ready and play our absolute best.”

On the late Capitals surges in games:

“You have to realize in the playoffs you’re playing good teams. They’re a good team, and sometimes during the year, maybe you can make a mistake and still get away with it. But playing a team with so much skill up front, if you make mistakes there’s a big chance they make you pay for it. So that’s a big thing. You have to almost play perfect. And you have to play really hard.”

“Like i said, it is what it is. You’re hoping to get that win (in Game 4) and be tied right now. But there’s no point in looking back. We just have to get ready for tomorrow. I look forward to it.”

Do elimination games feel different?

“It can be. It depends how you, I mean, you can put yourself in a tough spot, but you can also angle it and make sure you just enjoy it and see it as a great challenge. I think the whole playoffs, the key is to just be in a good place mentally. It is a lot more pressure and more expectations, and you’re more excited and more nervous. So the mental part is huge. Playing in an elimination game, I think the mental part weighs even more.”

On 3-1 being different now than it was years ago:

“Yeah. I think you’re going to see even more moving forward. You see what happened last year, and this year, teams … it can change so fast because the difference between teams is so small. Maybe in the past, if you had a 3-1 lead, it usually meant the other team was a lot better. I don’t think that’s the case any more. It’s more about finding ways to win games. This series has been very tight. It could have been a different story here with some luck or whatever. Yeah, nothing is impossible anymore and we definitely see this as a possible, achievable test.”

Did he think “That’s us” when he watched Chicago close the series to 3-2 after going down 3-0 to Vancouver:

“I mean, it just shows that it can change really fast. In the first three games it looked like Vancouver, looked like the best team in the playoffs. Then it turns so fast. A lot of it is mental. It’s how you think, how you approach it, how you focus, how much pressure you put on yourself. Again, especially in the playoffs, it’s a constant battle with your brain, I think. You just try to see everything in a positive way so it benefits you.”

So who’s winning, him or his brain?

(Laughs out loud) “I don’t know yet. We’ll see. We’ll see.”

“It is the toughest part, when you add more pressure and more excitement, because your brain is working a lot more.”

On how much he’s grown in the mental department, from the shootout loss in Game 82 last year, through this season and these playoffs so far:

“Yeah, I feel like … I mean, I don’t want to say … it’s not like you solve anything and figure it out. You try just to grow and to learn from the past and experience. And every year’s different. I said all along, I have pretty much the same feeling now as I had when I was 22 — excited. Maybe better to control your emotions and stay cool, try to stay cool.”

“I try to do the same thing (to prepare) as I’ve done the last couple of months. You’re just maybe a little more excited because it’s do or die here.”

Does a team lose some of the pressure when it loses its third game in a series?

“I don’t know. I think every year, every series is different. It depends on how you get there and how you’re playing. I mean, I can’t really say the pressure’s off. We have to win, or else we’re out. So we still have pressure. But knowing that if we win tomorrow, I know they’re going to have a lot of pressure coming back to New York. So that’s exciting. Like I say, you try to twist everything so it benefits you, it motivates you to, ‘OK, let’s just go in and focus on this game and if we win that one …’”

Is there pressure on the Capitals to prove they can close out a series?

“I don’t know. I’m just going to focus on us. I don’t know how they feel. I don’t really care, either. I don’t know. You’ll have to ask them.”

I never said the game’s supposed to be innocent. But, Avery plays a certain way, and that makes him part of *that* group. He *is* a cheapshot artist. He’s not a headhunter, and he doesn’t deliberately try to injure guys with knee on knee hits, low hip checks, head shots, etc.

You want an innocent player. Datstyuk! But, nobody can take his lunch money. Just ask Perry.

I’m a bit confused here, help me out. So NHL fines Ference $2500 for flipping the bird on national TV. The NHL suspends Wisniewski for lewd gesture on TV. And a few years ago the same NHL almost decapitated Avery for inappropriate statement on national TV. And yet, the same NHL allows and promotes this:

you follow baseball?…is a pitcher “dirty” when he throws way inside or at a batter to intimidate in order to claim his part of the plate?….Avery, if a baseball pitcher, does not hit batters in the head

Slow down, boys..The last thing we need is internal bickering. Avery has never been suspended for hison ice action, but to put it mildly, he has never been or never will be in consideration to win the Lady Byng Trophy…

Aww look at everyone hugging it out! Just when I thought Carp was going to step in and play Dr. Phil!

After having over a day to digest being present for the Game 4 debacle, I still have nightmares but remain cautiously optimistic for Game 5. With the “backs against the wall,” I hope the guys are loose and play less timid than they did in the 3rd period and OT’s of Game 4.

Should the Rangers lose Game 5, I still feel 100% confident in calling this season a rousing success. And while that sounds like such loser talk, I’m sure many would feel the same.

I think that the league should try to get to 10 Canadian teams and 20 American teams. That way you can have an Eastern Canada Division and a Western Canada Division, then divide up America however you want. Even though they’re pretty arrogant about their hockey, for the most part, they deserve the teams. And the league will do much better with teams up there than in some of the US markets.

ilb- that boudreau video is brilliant for right now. Remember at the end of game three when the rangers scored a goal to get ONE game and the whole team collapsed on the ice? That really is a bad attitude that those guys have. Boudreau is probably right to call them on it and he was right to get the focus off of them after that loss and right back on them after the win.

DDE – you’re right. I forgot to add in that he didn’t play those entire games! Good point.

I know that the playoffs don’t factor into the voting but what is with this guy? The NHL puts him in the all-star commercial BEFORE they realize he isn’t going to be part of that celebration. Are they trying to save face here and force him into the vezina finalists?

I have ZERO problem with boudreau’s rant. ZERO problem with the fact that it was on TV and ZERO problem with 75 to 80 percent of the hits/collision everyone seems sooooo upset about all the damn time.

Having suffered more than my “probably fair” share of concussions from hockey (and a couple other things) it is part of it. It is the risk you take when you lace them up. Most of the people that bitch about them are not the people getting them, so STFU!!!

I do not want to see ANY player have his career ended by ANY type of injury, but that being said they happen unfortunately. This freaking mamby pamby crap just pisses me off, It’s like people that join the military, then get all upset that they have to go to war..REALLY?? I mean REALLY?? It’s the military, that is what you are there for. Same with hockey, COLLISION sport, injuries and concussions happen!! Don’t like it, don’t want to see it, DON’T WATCH IT or participate in it!! Take up figure skating (btw, people get concussions in that too i’m sure) or watch golf!!

As “The Norwegian Hobbit” chased a puck along the boards late in the first period, two fingers on his left hand got caught in the photographer’s camera hole in the plexi-glass, resulting in a broken hand that will sideline him four-to-six weeks, ending his first season in North America unless the Whale or parent New York Rangers make long, long runs in the playoffs.

You’re totally right eddie. I am such a baby. I can’t believe my heart won’t function on it’s own. Survival of the fittest right? I should rip it out!

Actually I only need the pacemaker when my heart beat is slow so technically it wouldn’t effect me while I was skating. I would just have to worry about wires ripping out and then bleeding to death internally. Which is a sweet way to go but not as sweet as bleeding externally.

And I don’t think that a sexy cover is the answer for why an album sells or doesn’t sell becuase you tell me…the “White Album”, what was that? There was nothing on that go**amn cover. Excuse me, the phone’s ringing. Ian we’ll talk about this after.

haha. good one. I get really mad when people won’t make fun of their own medical disabilities.

Actually – a good friend of mine lost his leg playing hockey – got checked into the door while making a line change in juniors. He was really depressed. But then I made him make fun of it and I used to steal his wheelchair. Long story short, I saved his life.

Marty: Given the history of Spinal Tap drummers, uh, in the past,
do you have any fears, uh, for your life?
Mick: When I did join, you know, they did tell me, they kind of
took me aside and said “Well, Mick, ah, you know it’s like
this” and it did kind if freak me out a bit, but it can’t
always happen to every…. can it?
Marty: Right…right, the law of averages says…
Mick: The law of averages…
Marty: …says that you will survive.
Mick: Yeah.

To say even if we lose game 5 the season is a rousing success is setting the bar way to low. We have a top 3-5 goalie in the world and we lose in the first round in 5 games, no way a rousing success. Maybe a little better team to root for who finally hit, but if we are out tomorrow, no way we put a happy face on it. It will suck all summer and make me hear and somewhat believe same old Rangers. The standard has to be a game 7. And that has even come down for me, earlier in the year I thought we had to get passed the1st round to be a successful yr. We have some young pieces but to lose this way is a HUGE set back plain and simple

Hedberg, as a team that was picked to finish 12th in the Eastern Conference, and a team that fielded a defense whose oldest defenseman was, until McCabe arrived, 27, I think making the playoffs is a big step in the right direction. I’m not sure how losing in the 2nd round rather than the 1st round makes the season that much better.

Many fans looked at the playoffs as a bonus and as a great learning experience for the rookies. So, win or lose tomorrow, I think the team will look back on the season with pride and excitement for 2011-2012 (when the world might conceivably end…which would make the season a failure in my mind).

Avery for the Conn Smyth is a no brainer. look at what he has done for the Rangers in his 3 playoff games. they had no emotion until he entered the line up. plus he plays with an edge, but not to much of an edge, because he is not that kind of player.

Love the reasoning that we were picked 12th so we should be a happy bunch. That mind set has led us to one cup in 70yrs. If we lose tomorrow NO WAY was it a good year, not with what happened in MSG on Wed

Stepan, Boyle, Zuccarello, McDonagh, and Sauer are key pieces to the puzzle. This year is not about advancing in the playoffs, it’s about creating a team of youth with an identity. Playoff experience for these kids is a bonus. I think Torts has done a very fine job with this group…

Just one thing, NYR – I would have considered it a much more successful season if we held our playoff position comfortably till the end of the regular season – and that we didn’t have to be thankful to make the eighth spot – if we stayed at a middle/upper seed I would have felt a lot better about the progress this season.

Unfortunately, Carolina and Buffalo went on an insane run towards the end and the Ragners let some points slip away….again, I don’t look at it as a failure as much as a learning experience…it’s not like we had a bunch of overpaid vets on this team…NYR are overachievers this season…

The whole bottom of the division went on a surge – everybody was winning a lot more than they did in the first 2/3 of the season….but yeah, we slipped down into the pack, and that was unfortunate. Maybe next year it will be different, I hope.

Either a person gets used to it or they drive their self insane watching it. Like I’ve always said, even if others dispute the leadership of Jagr, the fact is, that guy could put the puck in the net, he carried our team – and opposition players without penalties being called – on his back….offensively.

Weber scores to tie it with 35 secs to go! What’s the series at?

I didn’t know Emery was starting again. Why is there a Kostitsyn on Nashville? Did they brothers get separated?

I just saw the Ryan highlight….incredible! Those moves look like the moves from some of the Ranger’s forwards…how did the Rangers miss out on him in the draft? Oh, we have Glen Savior, I almost forgot. I’m surprised Lamoriello didn’t trade up for him, since he’s a Jersey boy.
Hey, maybe Gaborik will score a great goal tomorrow, but I don’t care how it looks, just score!

Referees + D’Antoni + 35% healthy Amar’e + DNP Billups and that’s the final result. It’s a shame the refs decided to take us out of the game early and often despite our injury troubles. One thing the Knicks need to learn to do moving forward, along with defense, is not allowing easy baskets, especially to offensively-challenged guards like Rondo. Guys like that go to the rim, you put them on their aasen, you foul them hard, you make them pay a price for going to the rim. Thus, it discourages them from doing so in the future. We let Rondo have 10 uncontested layups in Game 2, and he’s a bad free throw shooter. Put him on the line, let him miss 50% of his free throws, and in the process, beat him down physically. He’s a thin kid, lay the hammer down on him, pummel him so he doesn’t drive the lane anymore.

Speaking of D’Antoni, the guy is such a fool that, when Jeff Green charged into our guy in the 2nd quarter with us down 5, the referees expectantly called a blocking foul on us. Being the complete and utter moron that D’Antoni is, he began arguing for a traveling call on Green – when there was no traveling – completely ignoring the “missed” charging call. The guy has brains up his aasen. We got him solely to lure Lebron, it didn’t work, this guy’s been a failure his entire career. He looks befuddled 99% of the time on the sidelines, it’s time to dump the trash.

CCCP – Good pont. That’s why I have a hard time seeing the Knicks and Rangers being really good again until Dolan’s gone, but I will surely take Sather and D’antoni out the door. All Dolan cares about is filling the seats with money and casual fans, who text all night, and go to games because they treat them as social events.
D’antoni is gong to get a full year next year with this team, so we’ll see if it improves, but this guy doesn’t teach defense. Bring in the Oak man from Charlotte to teach these guys defense and toughness.

Far be it from me to defend Sather, but he can’t really be blamed for not drafting Bobby Ryan when he went #2 in the Crosby draft. Slats did manage to accumulate as many ping pong balls as possible by screwing up the team so badly in the previous three years – he just wasn’t lucky enough (or threatening to move his now extremely profitable franchise to KC…) to end up drafting that high.